Israelis wearing keffiyehs hold up hands covered in fake blood at a protest outside the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on July 28, 2013. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

The Israeli cabinet cleared a major hurdle this weekend toward restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the first such negotiations in three years, by
agreeing to release 104 prisoners convicted of attacks on Israelis.

The inmates, some of whom have been in jail for decades, will be released in waves as long as the talks progress.

The move was intensely unpopular among Israelis -- according to one poll by a newspaper there, 84 percent of Israeli Jews opposed the release. The pushback is in some ways
understandable: The prisoners
were convicted of, among other things, throwing firebombs at a bus carrying children, stabbing civilians, and killing border guards.

In some corners, Israeli Jews voiced their astonishment at the decision with dark humor. Writing at the Times of Israel, a blogger writing
under the name Brian of London posted a list of potential "reasons" why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would agree to such a concession. Here
are a few of the more off-beat suggestions, but click here to see the full list (as a warning, he includes
some extremist claims.)

Space aliens are controlling his mind

Bad oysters

He lost a bizarre sex bet with (Israeli Justice Minister) Tzipi Livni

Medical marijuana

He's reviewed the cases of each of the murderers he plans to release and they've all become born again Christians (or Jews?) in prison who will renounce
all violence in the name of Islam or the Palestinian cause

We'll never know, at least not for 50 years or more when they declassify a ton of stuff so why guess

Elsewhere, Israeli journalists aired conspiracy theories that the release was part of a larger bargain for greater U.S. help on Iran:

.@DanWilliams@Bogie_Yaalon I have sneaky suspicion Israel agreed to free Palestinian terrorists+ renew talks in return for US help on Iran

On a more serious note, Israeli Economic Minister Naftali Bennett, who opposed the release, warned, "In the past we freed a terrorist for a live soldier, later hundreds of
terrorists for one live soldier, later terrorists for a dead soldier; and now -- a hundred terrorists for a process. We are showing the world that, for us,
everything is negotiable."

But just as Israelis believe passionately that the prisoners are terrorists, Palestinians view them as heroic crusaders, and most see their release as
essential to the renewal of talks. According to a recent Gallup poll, the prisoner release was the top precondition for peace negotiations for
Palestinians, with 93 percent saying it should be a precondition and 99 percent saying it was a "top priority."

According to an account of the Israeli cabinet's decision from Haaretz, it was a painful decision for Netanyahu and the supporting
ministers, but one they felt was a long-term boost for Israel on the international stage.

None of the ministers enjoyed
voting in favor of a wholesale release
of murderers of Jews. Some of the ministers said that Netanyahu hated every moment; he seemed to be suffering. But he, more than most of his
colleagues, was very well aware of the high price that Israel would have paid in the international, legal, and economic arenas had the voting results
been different.

"This moment is not easy for me. It is not easy for the ministers. It is not easy especially for the families, the bereaved families, whose heart I
understand," Netanyahu said at
the meeting. "But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the country, and this is one of those moments."

The release also potentially paves the way for fewer restrictions on settlement construction, another contentious issue, later in the talks. By giving on
prisoners, Haaretz writer Yossi Vertner noted, Netanyahu might have
made it easier for the settlers in the long run.

There's no shortage of remaining obstacles to successful negotiations. There could be spoilers, writes the Middle East blogger Camel's Nose, like opposition from Hamas or even potential rocket attacks, not to mention the deep
distrust between Israelis and Palestinians, the American pro-Israel lobby, and other, long-standing tension over things like borders and settlements.

More Israelis than Palestinians trust the Obama administration to help the two sides broker a fair deal, according to Gallup. Unfortunately, the prospect of such a
deal comes with one of what could be a series of painful compromises for each camp. And judging from the harsh reactions from some Israelis
before the talks have even begun, these trade-offs aren't likely to go over well back home.